Inconceivable Mutual Benefit

Today would have been my sister Jeanne’s 71st birthday…

This is one of my favorite pictures of her, taken at her last performance entitled, “Inconceivable Mutual Benefit.” Rooted in her teacher, Reb Anderson’s, fourth samadhi, her dance was an invitation to awaken to the inconceivable mutual benefit that is available to each and every one of us when we tap into our shared consciousness. Our shared connection. The “shared story” we call humankind…

So today, my 91-year-old mother and I set out to tap into our shared story with my beloved sister, Jeanne. And find her we did… At the Chatham lighthouse, gazing out at the cloud-streaked Race Point sky, in the music Jeanne “randomly” played for us on Pandora. At Titcomb’s Book Shop in Sandwich, Where The Sidewalk Ends Bookstore in Chatham, and The Provincetown Bookshop, where Jeanne guided me to drop off a copy of her daughter, Terri Luanna’s, inspirational legacy, Graceful Woman Warrior.

And last but most certainly not least, I heard Jeanne in my mother’s voice as she told me family story after family story, I felt Jeanne as I clasped my mother’s hand in mine whenever a “Jeanne song” came on, and I saw Jeanne dancing transcendently across the sky in the setting sun.

Jeanne’s final gift tonight was helping me locate the full video of her heart opening performance. May it remind us all to “show up” here and now in this moment, to cultivate our connections with each other, to open our hearts to each others’ shared stories, and to lead with love.

Love,

Auntie L